Case Study: The First Church of Christ, Scientist achieves faster collaboration and lower email costs with Cloud Sherpas and Google Apps

The First Church Of Christ, Scientist, shares the news With Google Apps

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, a global religious and news publishing institution, faced challenges with its on-premise Microsoft Exchange system. The legacy email client was costly to maintain, strained IT resources, and hindered the productivity of its 600 users. The organization, with its long-tenured staff, also needed a solution that included a careful change management strategy to avoid a disruptive transition. They enlisted the services of vendor Cloud Sherpas to manage the migration to a new platform.

Cloud Sherpas deployed Google Apps, implementing a peer-to-peer "Google Guides" program to ensure user adoption and provide support. The solution resulted in significant cost savings by eliminating nine Exchange servers and ending Microsoft licensing fees. The new platform greatly improved collaboration and remote accessibility, with users creating over 8,000 Google Docs. The internal IT help desk saw a dramatic reduction in support tickets as employees became proficient and self-sufficient with the new tools.

The First Church of Christ

Curt Edge

CIO